PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The American Athletic Conference has announced the winners of its weekly men’s and women’s tennis honors for the week-ending March 25.
 
AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE WOMEN’S TENNIS PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Rebeka Stolmar • So. • UCF • Budapest, Hungary
Stolmar registered the clinching points in both matches last week as UCF went 2-0 with victories against Tulsa and No. 34 Illinois. Stomar won both of her singles matches and both of her doubles contests to lead the way as she was a straight-set winner against Tulsa before battling from a 5-2 deficit in the second set against Illinois to claim a 6-1, 7-6 (5) victory. In addition to securing the team victories with her singles wins, Stolmar’s two doubles wins clinched the respective team points for the Knights, who improved to 17-2 on the year. The wins extended Stolmar’s winning streak in singles play to 11 matches.
 
 
AROUND THE AMERICAN
 
The American in the Oracle/ITA Rankings

Women’s Team (through March 19)

	26	UCF
	44	Wichita State
	45	USF

 
Women’s Singles (through March 19)

	41	Valeryia Zeleva	UCF
	46	Ana Roman Dominguez	USF
	84	Ksenia Kuznetsova	UCF
	98	Martina Okalova	Tulsa
	114	Liza Buss	SMU
	121	Fatima Bizhukova	Wichita State

 
Women’s Doubles (through March 19)

	15	Martina Okalova/Vera Ploner	Tulsa
	25	Fatima Bizhukova/Marta Bellucco	Wichita State
	31	Valeryia Zeleva/Ksenia Kuznetsova	UCF
	33	Elena Muller/Ivone Alvaro	Tulane

 
The 2019 American Athletic Conference Men’s and Women’s Tennis Championships will be held in April at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida. The women’s championship takes place April 17-20, while the men’s championship will be played April 18-21.
 
 WOMEN’S TENNIS UPDATE
UCF (17-2), which is ranked No. 26 in the Oracle/ITA rankings extended its winning streak to 15 matches with a pair of victories last week - a 6-1 decision against Tulsa and a 4-1 win against No. 34 Illinois. The Knights continue to get solid production across its singles lineup as all six regular players have at least 11 wins, including a 13-1 mark from Nandini Sharma and a 12-1 showing from Natalia Serrano. UCF takes to the road its only match of the week, a Sunday contest at Florida International.
 
Cincinnati (7-6) dropped a pair of matches on the West Coast last week as the Bearcats suffered 4-0 setbacks to Loyola Marymount and Long Beach State. Cincinnati looks to bounce back with three matches this week. The Bearcats hosts Dayton Wednesday, then head to Memphis for a Friday contest against the Tigers and a neutral-site match Sunday against Marshall.
 
UConn (4-8) scored a 4-3 win at Georgia Southern in the Huskies’ only match from last week. The Huskies won all three doubles contests and saw Jacqueline Fitz-Randolph claim a straight-set win at No. 1 singles to lead the way, giving UConn wins in two of its last three matches. The Huskies host Houston Saturday in Storrs.
 
ECU (17-2) remains the hottest team in The American as the Pirates extended their winning streak to 17 matches with a pair of road wins last week. ECU scored a 4-0 win at George Washington and took a 4-2 victory at Temple. Alisa Diercksen led the way with a pair of straight-set victories, including a 6-0, 6-0 win at No. 3 singles against Temple. Celia Ruiz has a team-leading 13-1 dual match record in singles, while Diercksen has gone 12-2, including a 10-0 mark at No. 3. The Pirates host Davidson Saturday in their only match of this week.
 
Houston (11-4) has won its last six matches as the Cougars scored a 6-1 win against UTEP in their only match of the week. Houston won five of the six singles matches, including a 6-0, 6-0 win at No. 3 by Jovana Vukovic. Houston heads to New England for two matches this week - a Friday contest at Boston College and a Saturday trip to UConn.
 
Memphis (8-8) dropped a pair of road matches to opponents from the Ivy League last week as the Tigers fell 4-3 to Brown and 4-1 at Harvard. The Tigers look to get back on track with three matches this week. Memphis hosts Cincinnati Friday, South Alabama Saturday and Marshall Sunday.
 
USF (10-7) is ranked No. 45 in the Oracle/ITA rankings. The Bulls have won their last four matches after a 4-3 decision against Tulsa and a 7-0 win against Maryland last week. Laura Pellicer Perello came away with two key singles wins for the Bulls last week as she was a three-set winner at No. 4 against Tulsa before taking a straight-set victory at No. 3 against Maryland. USF is idle this week and returns to action April 5 at Rice.
 
SMU (7-9) won all three of its dual matches last week, beginning with a 6-1 win against Dartmouth and ending with 7-0 wins in a doubleheader against Northwestern State and Abilene Christian. Liza Buss is ranked No. 114 in the Oracle/ITA singles rankings, thanks in large part to five wins against ranked players this season. The Mustangs make the short road trip to face TCU Tuesday before visiting Tulsa Sunday.
 
Temple (10-4) split a pair of matches last week as the Owls took a 6-1 win against Hofstra before falling 4-2 to ECU. Temple is back in action Thursday against Morgan State.
 
Tulane (6-12) dropped a 4-1 decision to Harvard in its first match last week, but the Green Wave responded with a 5-2 win against Marshall to gain a split of its two matches. Tulane’s top doubles tandem of Elena Muller/Ivone Alvaro is ranked No. 33 in the Oracle/ITA rankings and has a 16-2 overall record. Tulane hosts Southern Miss Saturday in its only match of the week.
 
Tulsa (11-8) came up short in its two-match tour of The American’s Florida-based schools as the Golden Hurricane fell 4-3 to No. 45 UCF and 6-1 to No. 26 UCF. Tulsa’s doubles pair of Martina Okalova/Vera Ploner is ranked No. 15 by the ITA and is The American’s highest-ranked tandem. Tulsa heads to Texas for two matches this week - a Saturday contest at North Texas and a Sunday match at SMU.
 
Wichita State (9-8) was a 4-2 winner against North Texas in the Shockers’ only match of the week. Junior Fatima Bizhukova led the way with a straight-set win at No. 1 singles against the Mean Green’s top player, who is ranked No. 77 nationally Wichita State heads to Kansas City this weekend for a Saturday doubleheader against Drake and UMKC.